Street Games

[liits]

Glax wrote: I also seem to remember starting off in a circle, though I can`t say which of the thousand and one methods we used to choose the original “it”.Glax Our “standing in a circle” means of picking “it” was to stand Charlie Chaplin –like, toe to toe with enough room between the heels to let the ball roll through but with the possibility of using the foot like a flipper on a pinball table to flick the ball away. Who’s ever legs the ball went through was "it".    

[tilly]

Just come to mind another thing we did with cotton reels was i think called French Kniting.We used to knock four nails on one flat side of the reel and pass the wool around the nails then pass the wool over each nail.I cant for the life of me remember what else we did with it but it came out of the hole at the bottom of the reel in a long thin knitted tube.    

[Leodian]

tilly wrote: Just come to mind another thing we did with cotton reels was i think called French Kniting.We used to knock four nails on one flat side of the reel and pass the wool around the nails then pass the wool over each nail.I cant for the life of me remember what else we did with it but it came out of the hole at the bottom of the reel in a long thin knitted tube.     That was one of my favourite things when I was a kid. It was possible to produce very long lengths, a bit like a long very narrow scarf. I also recall tying wool round and through two bits of card. I can't fully recall now exactly what was done but at the end scissors were used to cut between the cards and the wool was tied up, with the result being a round ball of wool that could be played with. I think that would have been a plaything before I discovered cowboys and indians.

[tilly]

Leodian wrote: tilly wrote: Just come to mind another thing we did with cotton reels was i think called French Kniting.We used to knock four nails on one flat side of the reel and pass the wool around the nails then pass the wool over each nail.I cant for the life of me remember what else we did with it but it came out of the hole at the bottom of the reel in a long thin knitted tube.     That was one of my favourite things when I was a kid. It was possible to produce very long lengths, a bit like a long very narrow scarf. I also recall tying wool round and through two bits of card. I can't fully recall now exactly what was done but at the end scissors were used to cut between the cards and the wool was tied up, with the result being a round ball of wool that could be played with. I think that would have been a plaything before I discovered cowboys and indians. Hi LeodianI remember doing the wool around the card if i remember right when you cut the wool you had to tie a piece of wool around the center before you cut the card to remove the pom. pom.I think thats what we called them.

[Leodian]

Hi Tilly. Yes pom pom (or was it pompom?) was the name. Trying to recall how it was done I now think it may only have been 1 piece of card with a hole in the centre, not 2 pieces. Fun and simple times. A street game I recall was one where you had to avoid being touched by the other players as you ran along a stretch of pavement. It all started when you asked another player "Farmer Farmer may I cross your golden field today?". To which the answer would be such as "Not unless you are wearing something blue" (or whatever colour or item was named). If you did not have what was needed you had to run to avoid being touched and so out!

[tyke bhoy]

Definitely 2 pieces of donut shaped card for PomPoms. You cut the wool all the way round the outside edge and then slotted the tying string between the two pieces of card tying it frimly before removing the card. I can also remember having my very own thin scarf made with the assistance of a cotton bobbin with four panel pins nailed in round the central hole on one end

[Leodian]

tyke bhoy wrote: Definitely 2 pieces of donut shaped card for PomPoms. You cut the wool all the way round the outside edge and then slotted the tying string between the two pieces of card tying it frimly before removing the card. I can also remember having my very own thin scarf made with the assistance of a cotton bobbin with four panel pins nailed in round the central hole on one end Cheers for that tyke bhoy.Not perhaps a street game as probably meant by the thread but I used to like playing with spinning tops. Thwacking them with string on a stick to keep a top spinning was fun! (I'm not sure if thwacking is the right word but it was that which came to mind!). Chalking the tops with various colours added to the fun when they were spinning.

[Johnny39]

Never see kids throwing sticky buds at each other (in the season) or playing with "Spud Guns" these days.

[dogduke]

Johnny39 wrote: Never see kids throwing sticky buds at each other (in the season) or playing with "Spud Guns" these days. Funny that mention of sticky buds,it was only this afternoon when walking the dogs through Temple Newsam that I thought of sticky buds.

[tilly]

Not a game but but this is how we used to overcome a problem.The problem we had was that outside the local shop was a grate about five foot by three foot and about four foot deep.At the bottom was one or two pennys has the grate was chained up we had to think of a way to get the money.Answer get a garden cane five foot long split the end for about six inches put a match stalk into the gap so the gap is just under the size of a penny push the cane over the penny this will open the gap.The match will fall out and the cane will grip the penny .Who said we were thick from Hunslet.